The Hitchcock Page
If you've ever seen Rear Window, and watched the first 20 minutes closely, noticing how each of the neighboring windows Jimmy Stewart is observing reflects the character of its occupant, you know the attention to detail Alfred Hitchcock put into his films. If you've ever sat through Suspicion and been completely mystified about whether Cary Grant was a killer or not, even after the ending, you know why they call Hitchcock the master of suspense. And if the final scene of North By Northwest -the train entering a tunnel - wasn't lost on you, you've got some idea of Hitchcock's sense of humor.

None of this has been lost on Mark Claunch, the creator of the Hitchcock Page, either. "Hitchcock's true genius was how he used all of the tools of film-making," Mark says as an explanation of his admiration for the film-maker. Mark does more than present information about Hitchcock's films on this site; he presents a study of the art of film-making through a picture-by-picture breakdown of the shower scene from Psycho. This section of the site offers a choice of going through the scene manually, by clicking a link, or choosing the server-push option, which will automatically load the next still in the sequence. Though the pictures are small, there are more than 50 of them, it still takes some time to get through.

The Filmography section of the site is a very nicely programmed listing of Hitchcock's 56 films, broken down by decade, with links to the Internet Movie Database for further information. At the bottom of this page, in a box titled Other Film Work, are films where Hitchcock did other work, such as Title Card Design (his first job in the film business). Of particular interest is the cameo section, which lists where all of Hitchcock's brief appearances in his films occur. Hitchcock appeared as a bystander in 37 of his films.

Under Feedback, Mark has a form set up so people can vote on their favorite films and send him their own comments about the site or Hitchcock in general. The Awards section starts off with a list of Internet users' top 10 Hitchcock films based on the votes received in the Feedback section, placing the Internet community's vote above such petty organizations as the Motion Picture Academy.-WKC

A

All-Movie Guide
Just how many searchable movie databases can the Web support? These sites are proliferating faster than shoe stores in a shopping mall, and the smart money says there's going to be a bloodbath soon. Browse by title, actor, mood, genre, country, or decade of release. Scan a plot review and check out the critical rating - haven't I seen this before? Don't get me wrong, this site is better than most, but I have my doubts as to whether we actually need all of these database choices. Oh well, who am I to question the wisdom of the marketplace?-SS

B+

Delta 9 Independent Film Resource
For several peculiar reasons, Austin has become an independent film hotbed. Something about the Texas heat and the too-close Communist threat in Cuba seems to inspire every slacker, rube, and yahoo to write a screenplay. This Web space is a resource guide for the Austin film-making scene, listing available equipment, local contacts, open grants, and such. Austinites may find these pages worthwhile; others should look for similar structures in their own community. Be warned that the page boasts a manifesto. Thankfully, it is more a statement of principle, but the rule still holds: Art and manifestos do not mix.-SS

B-

Joe Bob Briggs
"Adapt or die." Like all other species, celebrities are constantly engaged in a struggle for survival. Just as the rise of the Talkie destroyed many silent movie stars, so too will the Internet eliminate those unwilling or unable to adapt. Joe Bob Briggs is one celeb who has gracefully made the transition to this Brave New Age. Visitors find both the insightful social commentary of the Joe Bob's America column and his more widely known Drive-In Movie Reviews. The Web proves itself a perfect medium for this endearing trailer park perspective.-SS

B

Left-Wing Films
Despite some borderline poor judgment selections (I'd hardly call "A League of Their Own," with Madonna, a "left-wing" film), this is a decent list of films (with hyperlinks when available). The main purpose is to provide collectives and student organizations with a list of titles to present at campus theaters and events. The site is broken down with internal anchors (it's one long page, with periodic jump points to avoid the nap-on-the-scroll bar scenario), which divide sections - environment, feminism, sexual freedom, and so on. -BG

B

MOVIENET
One can easily imagine the decisions that brought this site about. "Hey, we need a corporate Web site. Hey, we're a theater chain. Hey... Let's put our show times and schedules up on the Web!" Memos fly, ledgers are adjusted, and lo, it is done. Didn't anyone involved stop to question the usefulness of a show time listing, arranged by city, indexing only Goldwyn/Landmark theaters? Oh well; give them points for trying.-SS

C+

Online Movie Guide
The first impression: gaudy. The second impression: confusing. But upon deeper inspection and reckless clicking, I found some useful information about films on TV and video, and reviews of films in theaters in Los Angeles. However, the reviews section is an atrocious eye sore - there's an obvious attempt to get everything on one page, even if it means requiring a magnifying lens to read it. Ouch. This service is also available for Chicago (http://www.chicagowww.com/), Denver (http://www.denver.com/), and New York (http://www.newyorkwww.com/).-BG

C

PSYCHO
Ahh, the glorious fan page. Sounds and images from a favorite movie and a list of related links - what better way to demonstrate one's love of and adoration for a favorite subject? You'll find all of the usual here: reviews and critical commentary on Psycho, a few sound files, and some MPEGs and GIFs. At one point, the creator even uses Web frames, proving my contention that frames allow the enthusiast to quickly make a bad site worse. A VRML version of the space is available as well. Lacking a VRML browser, I was unable to confirm my suspicion that VRML may be another tool of damnation.-SS

B-

rec.arts.movies archive
A FAQ is a FAQ and for the most part, neat-o images and suave design tactics are not to be expected. So, as suspected, this archive of the rec.arts.movies Usenet newsgroup is relatively dull to look at. Straight gray backgrounds with blue links to info about specific films (presented a la ASCII text, of course) is pretty much par for the course. Nonetheless, if you're a follower of the newsgroup or particularly interested in famous quotes, Oscars, or a few specific films, such as Resevoir Dogs or The Looney Toons, it's pretty packed.-BG

B-

Screen Shots
With slick design and smooth graphics, Screen Shots is a quick eye catcher. It has the look and feel of professional quality and corporate backing, but to my surprise, I found no advertising banners or distracting sales pitches. Catch up with your favorite actors and directors with RealAudio interviews, goof around with a Hollywood trivia quiz, or peruse new release film reviews. The site is fairly new, so some areas are still rather small, but to our advantage, what they've got so far is very good.-BG

A-

The Film Zone
"Oh no," I thought, "not another Web zine dedicated to film and its followers." What a pleasant surprise to find well-written articles on a variety of subjects, organized in a thoughtful fashion - and making fine use of frames, too! Foreign films, independents, animated works, and more are treated right alongside the usual Hollywood giants. This site sent me down to the local video store in search of a half dozen different titles - high praise. This page is a rare thing indeed: a film-devoted site worth visiting for its content as well as its images.-SS

A-

Widescreen Movie Center
If you love letterbox film, this is your site. You'll find archives of letterbox films on TV and in the theaters, links to additional resources, and the real juice: a guide to which letterbox films will be on television each month (searchable by time zone and what cable channels, if any, you subscribe to). The layout is clean and simple, as the site is more of a functional database than anything else. And the logo at the bottom, Just Say No Steve Martin, is clever (in pretentious art film circles anyway).-BG

B+